So when Phil Jackson was asked the open-ended question about what was best about the Lakers' 3-0 trip through Milwaukee, Detroit and Minnesota, he got back to that point.

"We wanted to control how the game was played, and we paced the games pretty well," Jackson said. "We had our tempo that we wanted and took our opportunities to open up games. We were able to do that in appropriate times in all those three games.

Jackson's reward for the perfect trip: no practice for the players Saturday after the team arrived back in Los Angeles at about 1:30 a.m. The Lakers play host to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night.

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